One Unforgettable Kiss

by A. C. Arthur

  “I can’t believe you told on me,” he said.

  “Why? Because I’m the oldest and you’re used to everybody running to me to snitch?” Gray chuckled. “Well, since we’re all adults now, I figured it was good to start sharing the wealth.”

  Garrek managed a small smile. He did appreciate his siblings. He hadn’t realized how much until this very moment. They were ready to rally behind him, even though he’d kept all this from them. They had his back, just like their mother had made them promise they would. Garrek wasn’t sure anyone even cared about upholding Olivia’s oath anymore. Since their father’s death, Garrek hadn’t been sure about anything where the Taylors were concerned. Now he was certain that his siblings would stand by him until the end, whenever that turned out to be.

  Garrek only wished Harper would still be willing to do the same.

  * * *

  Pat’s Bar and Grille was located on the corner of Bailey and Linden Streets, about six blocks away from city hall. It was a red-shingled two-story building with green windowpanes and a big light-up sign hanging from the second-story window, reading Pat’s. On the Linden Street side, an addition had been built three years ago to add more seating. Strands of Christmas lights hung around the border. On the Bailey Street side were more Christmas lights and a cartoon image of Patricia Ann Rhinehart, the bar’s founder, standing close to a grill with a beer mug in her hand, painted on the window.

  The last time Harper had been here was for Jill Langston’s bridal shower a year ago. Jill had dated Marlon for a year while they were all in high school. If not for her and Jill being members of the debate team, Harper probably would not have been invited to the shower or the wedding. She didn’t usually drink or socialize, for that matter, so it felt a little foreign to take a seat at the end of the bar and ask for a martini. It was the drink her aunt Laura preferred, so Harper had tasted it at her house many times before.

  Aunt Laura, who had immediately sensed something was wrong when Harper showed up at her house to drop the tiles off with Marlon earlier this afternoon.

  “You all right, Harps?” she’d asked.

  When Harper had said she was fine, Laura Jane Hilton Presley had taken her by the chin and stared at her.

  “You’re not fine,” her aunt stated. “What happened?”

  It would have been normal for Harper to insist she was okay and go off to lick her wounds alone. She’d done that all of her life. This time it felt dishonest, just like Garrek had been with her.

  “I tried it and it didn’t work,” Harper said.

  She’d moved away from her aunt then, going to stand near the fireplace in their living room. Framed pictures lined the mantel—the one of Aunt Laura and Uncle Giff on their wedding day caught Harper’s eye. They looked so young. Uncle Giff’s hair was thick and black, in contrast to the thinning, predominantly gray it was now. Aunt Laura’s hair was long, curly and blond, her blue eyes sparkling with laughter. Now she wore her hair chin length. The pair also looked as if they were madly in love, which was similar to how they still acted thirty-two years later.

  “Why didn’t it work with Garrek?” her aunt asked.

  Harper shrugged, not even bothering to ask how Aunt Laura knew exactly who and what she was referring to. Everybody in town had been talking about her and Garrek since the night he’d placed that bid on her.

  “He lied to me,” Harper said, still too embarrassed to turn around. “I asked him if he was involved with someone and he said no.”

  “And now you’ve learned that he is?” Laura asked.

  “Yes,” Harper replied. If she closed her eyes, she could still see the message on his phone screen. So she didn’t close her eyes. But it didn’t matter; the pain was still as sharp.

  “How did you find out?”

  She frowned and ran her finger along a frame that held a picture of her and her grandfather.

  “I read his text message.” Harper sighed. “I know I shouldn’t have, and it wasn’t intentional. But he wasn’t going to tell me. He was just going to continue lying until he left town.”

  “So he’s going back into the service?” Laura asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess. I don’t know anything about him, Aunt Laura. How can I feel so betrayed and so hurt over somebody I barely know?”

  “Because your heart knows,” Laura said. “Sometimes it works that way. The heart leads, and then everything else follows. Did you ask him about the text message?”

  Harper shook her head. She sat down on the couch and let her head fall back, closing her eyes even though she knew exactly what she’d see when she did.

  “I just left,” she said.

  “But you feel like he owes you an explanation?”

  “No,” Harper said. “I don’t want to see him. I feel like he should have told me, and I’m pissed that he didn’t. But I didn’t want to ask him about it. I didn’t want to—”

  Her aunt had come to sit beside her, placing a hand over Harper’s. “Were you more afraid of him telling you that you were wrong about the message? Or of confirming that he’d really lied to you?”

  Harper didn’t have a chance to answer, because Marlon and Craig had come into the room talking about the tile mix-up. She’d left a half hour later and driven around until finally ending up here at Pat’s.

  The bartender had just delivered her drink and a tentative smile when Harper’s momentary solitude was interrupted.

  “I’ll have a vodka on the rocks, Jimmy,” Leah said as she dropped her Michael Kors clutch on the bar top and sat on the stool next to Harper.

  “Drinking alone?” she asked. “Never mind, don’t answer that. I already know.”

  Harper decided today was a good day to ignore Leah. She didn’t have much interest in what the woman had to say on a regular day, and right at this moment she could not have cared less. So she picked up her glass, took a sip and continued to stare up at the television. There was a baseball game on, but Harper was just as uninterested in who was playing or winning as she was in Leah.

  However, the batter who had just struck out reminded her of little Jack when he’d been learning to hit a ball with his first baseball bat. Harper’s heart warmed at the thought. She’d loved that day at the lake. Even though it was unexpected, it had turned out to be a really fun day. It was also the first time that she’d thought she could be falling for Garrek.

  It had happened so quickly, starting with the way he’d held Lily in his arms and talked to both the little girl and her doll. He’d explained to Susie, the doll, why it was important to listen to her mommy, and Lily had looked elated. Then he’d pitched the ball super slowly to Jack numerous times until Jack finally got a hit. After that, Garrek had celebrated with his nephew as if he were already a baseball pro.

  His interactions with the twins endeared him to her in a way that Harper hadn’t expected. Since she’d never thought of having her own children, it never occurred to her to pay attention to the way a man interacted with kids. Yet the entire time they were at the lake, she’d watched Garrek. From how he wiped Jack’s mouth after he’d eaten a piece of lemon meringue pie—because he’d gotten most of it on his face—to his adorable confusion when Lily asked him to retwist her hair and clip her barrette on the end.

  That night Harper had known genuine trepidation. She’d already had sexy dreams about this man. Then he’d saved her life and followed that with a searing first kiss. The picnic had simply plucked away another layer of her resistance. Those first warning feelings should have been, she thought now, a sign of the disastrous end.

  “I guess you would come here to drown your misery after all that’s been going on today.”

  Harper hadn’t been paying any attention to Leah, hoping that would make the pain-in-the-butt woman leave. It hadn’t.

  “I’m not drowning anything in misery,” Harper replied. “Just having a drink.”<
br />
  “Right,” Leah said, nodding at Jimmy the bartender and then drumming her too-long and too-pink nails on the bar.

  The sound was annoying, and Harper sighed heavily.

  “Look, you don’t have to try to pretend with me. If I were banging a guy who didn’t have the sense to wrap it up to prevent getting his captain’s daughter pregnant, I’d need a drink, too.”

  All the air drained from Harper’s lungs, and she turned slowly to face Leah.

  “What did you just say?”

  “Oh, come on, Harper. That innocent act you toss around town is getting so old. I know you’ve seen those fine MAs walking around today. They’ve been talking to everybody about Garrek Taylor and the trouble he’s in. They even went to see your daddy. You know, after I told them that Garrek had moved on to...well, to you.”

  The last was said with a smirk.

  But Harper was too busy replaying all the words the annoying woman had just spoken to notice.

  “The masters-at-arms,” she said, hearing the words and hating the sound. “They’re looking for Garrek.”

  “Of course they are, Harper. That’s what happens when you go AWOL,” Leah chided.

  Harper gulped from her glass and set it back on the bar with a thump. Neither Aunt Laura nor Marlon and Craig had mentioned anyone coming to their house to look for Garrek. Their house was a little farther out than the farm, so maybe the MAs hadn’t gotten there yet.

  “Look,” Leah continued. “I don’t know if there’s a punishment for being stupid, but if there were, you’d deserve it. What were you thinking, jumping into bed with a guy like that? You should have known he was out of your league, even if he did turn out to be a jerk. Now you have the entire town talking about how he paid all that money at the auction to sleep with you, just months after he got some other poor girl pregnant.”

  Harper was going to be sick. She felt dizzy and warm and she knew she needed to get home before she embarrassed herself...again. But not before she attempted to verify Leah’s story.

  “Who told you he got someone pregnant? The MAs wouldn’t divulge that type of information to civilians,” Harper said.

  “Well, if you need all the dirt I certainly won’t hold back,” Leah snapped. “Rusty Baines was going into the gym just as I was coming out. You know he’s always had a thing for me. I gave him a chance once, but he didn’t cut it. And I swear, he has the hardest head in the world. Just keeps finding any reason to talk to me now. Anyway, Rusty immediately starts talking about the MAs hanging around town. He said his grandfather knew one of the MAs’ daddy from the navy. So he called him up, and that’s how he got the scoop about the captain’s daughter.”

  Harper wanted to scream. Wasn’t anything private anymore?

  She slipped off the stool and reached in her back pocket for some bills she then tossed on the bar.

  “Where you going?” Leah asked. “He’s probably long gone. You know those military folk are relentless. They probably have Garrek cuffed and in the back of their shiny black car by now.”

  Harper was already walking away, leaving Leah to shout after her.

  “Get a spine, Harper!” Leah yelled when Harper reached for the door handle. “Say good riddance to that loser and go back to your dull and boring life with that hammer and nail!”

  She was going to leave. It was what she needed to do, really it was. But not this time. Harper just couldn’t do it this time.

  She walked back to the bar where Leah sat, grabbing a bottle from one of the tables on her way. Harper had no idea what was in the bottle. And before she could think better of the act, she was tipping that bottle over Leah’s head, watching as the red wine flattened the fresh curls on Leah’s head, down her carefully made up face and onto the tight white blouse she wore.

  “If this is the only way to shut you up,” Harper said. “I guess I’ll have to oblige you. Again.”

  When the bottle was empty Harper set it on the bar and tossed some more money over to pay for it. Then she walked out of Pat’s with her heart thumping wildly and her mind circling around the fact that Garrek had not been the man she’d thought he was. She didn’t know who he was or why she’d ever gotten involved with him. All she knew right now was that regret, mixed with that sickly emotion called love, was a bitter pill to swallow.

  Chapter 15

  It was close to ten that night when Garrek finally saw headlights coming up the road. Two hours ago he’d finally given up the hope of Harper calling or texting him. And since Morgan had sworn to him that she hadn’t heard from Harper again since the earlier text, Garrek knew there was only one other option.

  He’d parked his second rental car about a mile down the road beneath some trees and walked back to where he now stood beside the barn on the Presley farm. The first few minutes he’d stood there, he’d felt foolish. Now, hours later, after seeing the headlights, he felt hopeful.

  Tomorrow he would be leaving to head back to Washington. Gray was going with him, and his attorney was going to meet them at the airport, where Gray’s private jet would be waiting. Captain Ainsley was out of line with the AWOL accusation, and Garrek wasn’t about to take that lying down. He’d worked too hard for too long to get where he was, and he wouldn’t let a momentary lapse in judgment destroy him.

  As for Harper, well, he didn’t think he’d worked hard enough where she was concerned. And for that he was profoundly sorry. He hoped against all else that she would let him remedy that situation. If not, Garrek would do exactly as he’d told Arnold he would. He would leave her alone. He respected her and himself enough to walk away without any further incident, if that was what Harper truly wanted.

  She drove right past the barn in her truck, and Garrek immediately stood from the front porch steps where he’d been waiting for her. The instant their gazes locked Garrek knew this was worse than he could have ever imagined. Her eyes were full of hurt while the determined way in which she approached spoke of anger.

  “Can we talk?” he asked when what he really wanted to do was go to her and pull her into his arms.

  But touching her right now didn’t seem like a good idea, especially since she was already shaking her head as she stopped just short of the steps.

  “I don’t think—”

  “Please,” he said, interrupting her. “Just to talk.”

  She seemed to think about it before nodding and Garrek breathed a sigh of relief. He walked down the steps and stood in front of her. She instantly backed away, the pain in her eyes palpable. He cringed inwardly.

  Garrek began walking toward the barn, because at this point that was all he could do. He opened the door and waited while she walked inside. As he closed the door, he noticed that she’d turned on the lights but remained standing near the doors. He tried not to recall the last time they were in this space, because it only made him feel worse about what was going on now.

  “First, I need you to know that I never meant to hurt you,” he stated.

  “Let’s just start with what your true intention was when you came here, Garrek,” she said. “Remember, I asked you that question when we were at the Adberry house, and you said it was because your father left you that property.”

  “That was the reason I came to Temptation,” he said and then held up a hand so she wouldn’t interrupt him. “I could have gone anywhere, Harper. Anywhere in the US to get away from my situation in Washington. My captain granted me a leave chit, and I thought it made sense to take the time to deal with the issues surrounding my father and his death.”

  She looked at him like that explanation didn’t change one bit the way she thought about him at this moment. Garrek continued.

  “I slept with Rochelle Ainsley one night after a group dinner and way too many drinks. The condom broke. The next morning I made it perfectly clear to Rochelle that our night together was a mistake. I apologized to her and moved o
n. Five weeks ago, I was scheduled to ship out for two years, taking a new post as department head. Three days before the ship-out date, Rochelle told me she was pregnant. I was called into my captain’s office, and he told me I had to figure out what to do about honoring his daughter and the commitment I made to her by sleeping with her. He gave me some time, which I took to think.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head as if she were growing tired of his words. Garrek continued anyway.

  “That first night I came to Temptation, I just wanted a drink and to go to bed. I was tired from driving and wanted to finally clear my head.”

  “You probably should have taken a hint from the party on the base and cut down your drinking,” she said.

  “You’re right,” he said with a nod. “But I do not regret the misunderstanding that took place that night. No, I did not walk into that hall intending to bid on a date with a woman I didn’t know. But looking back on that night, I realize that was a pivotal moment in my life. It was as if it were meant to happen exactly the way it did to get us to this point right now.”

  “Forgive me if I’d rather not be standing in a barn, a few feet away from someone who thought so little of me that he couldn’t even tell me the truth,” she said. “You had so many opportunities, Garrek. I didn’t push. I respected your privacy, because I had secrets of my own. But the moment things shifted between us, I wanted to know more about what happened on the base and why you were here. How long you were staying. All of it! I asked and you lied!” Her arms fell to her sides as she took a step toward him.

  “I was scared!” he shouted back, and then clamped his lips shut.

  She did not speak but blinked rapidly, as if his outburst had startled her. It had shocked him. This was not the way he usually acted. Then again, he wasn’t usually fighting for something as important as she’d grown to be to him.

  “I didn’t really know what was happening between us,” he began again, his tone quiet even though his heart was thumping wildly. “I couldn’t understand why it was so hard to stay away from you, to not touch you, not want you. I’d been so sure about what I wanted my life to be and how I expected it to play out before. I just wasn’t prepared for you.”